Nico (Ruin & Revenge #1)(63)

Taking a deep breath, she walked into the private dining room. She had picked Bella Via for its mix of warm contemporary and cool minimalism. Industrial padded chairs surrounded long, rustic wooden tables. Stark white walls contrasted with a polished wooden floor, seamlessly blending traditional and modern. She hoped Nico got the message.

She drank him in as she entered the room. His suit tonight was midnight black, deep and lustrous, and his tie was a mix of burgundy and blue. He had cut his hair since she’d seen him last, and she missed the wayward strands that hinted at the wildness that he hid inside.

I’ll always keep you safe.

God, she’d missed him. The urge to run into his arms and beg him to make the monsters go away was almost overwhelming.

He rose from the table to greet her, and she quickly crossed the room and held out her hand, hoping to set a businesslike tone for the meeting. “Thanks for coming. I was beginning to think you didn’t want to see me again.”

“Things have been busy.” He stared at her outstretched hand and frowned. “What the fuck?”

What the fuck, indeed. Her father had promised the Toscanis a Cordano bride. And since Tony wasn’t the only Toscani bachelor, she just had to make Nico an offer he couldn’t refuse.

“It’s nice to see you, too.”

“This isn’t you.” He gestured to her clothes, and his nose wrinkled. “You don’t dress like that.” He gestured to the bun on the top of her head. “You don’t wear your hair like that.” He waved his hand as if in distress. “You don’t look that. What the fuck is going on?” He seemed agitated tonight, angry, and not the Nico who had kissed her passionately in her doorway and whispered sweet things in her ear.

“I have a proposal for you.” She took her seat, and dug her newly manicured nails into her palm. If this was going to work, she needed to maintain the facade of a cool, composed businesswoman who had come to discuss a merger and acquisition, and not let him see the shaken, desperate woman who had no other way to save her sister except by doing the one thing she had vowed never to do. “Please, Nico. Hear me out.”

Saying his name seemed to break through his angry agitation, and he took his seat on the other side of the table. “What business proposal?”

Mia reached into her briefcase and pulled out a contract she had drawn up at her office earlier that morning. “A … merger. One that would serve both our interests, and that of our families as well.” Hand shaking, she handed him the contract. Nico placed it on the table in front of him without even reading the first line.

“I don’t like legalese. Talk me through it.”

Her stomach clenched. It would have been so much easier to just sit and watch him read, but to explain it all to his face … See the rejection instead of hear it.

She folded her hands on the table. “I know you and your cousin have both declared as acting boss of the family. Obviously, there can’t be two acting bosses. I’m offering you a way to come out on top. An alliance. A merger, of sorts.”

“Did Don Cordano send you?”

She cringed inwardly at the sound of her father’s name, the memory of Sunday night still fresh in her mind. “No. This is just between you and me.”

“There is no you and me. I heard about you and Tony. Congratulations.”

Ah. So that was why he hadn’t returned her calls. Taking the plunge, she said, “I was hoping it could be you instead.” Her cheeks heated under his scrutiny, and she had to force herself to meet his gaze.

He stared at her aghast. “You want to marry me?”

“It doesn’t have to be forever,” she blurted out. “Just until everything settles down. My father will be enraged, but once the deed is done, there’s nothing he can do. We’ll be married in the sight of God, and the New York bosses won’t approve a hit on you because the alliance will end the war. Our marriage will also fulfill the agreement between the families—a Toscani marrying a Cordano. You will have the power to secure your position as boss of your family. After a year or so, when the alliance is running smoothly, we can get the marriage annulled and go our separate ways. I have no desire to trap you, Nico. I just…”

She couldn’t bring herself to tell him about Saturday night. Lessons about keeping her mouth shut had been drilled into her head from her earliest years. Given Nico’s protective nature, she had a feeling he wouldn’t agree to an alliance with her father if he knew what he had done to Kat—or at all, if he still wanted to avenge his father. But more than that, she didn’t want him to agree because he felt sorry for her—that would just lead to resentment later on. She wanted him to agree because of the benefit he would get—the best outcome in any business arrangement.

Silence.

“I can be everything you need a mob wife to be.” She waved her hand over her sickly pink outfit, even as bile rose in her throat. “I learned from the best. I can dress the part, act the part, and be the part. I can be the perfect adornment, the perfect hostess, and the perfect wife. I can dye my hair back to its original color, put the punk stuff away.” She gave a wan smile. “I can learn how to cook and keep the house tidy. I’ll even listen to Sinatra…”

She trailed off when he didn’t respond. “Nico?”

A desperate ache formed in Mia’s chest as he stared at her, his face an expressionless mask. She’d considered all her options, and this was the best she could come up with. If he refused, she’d have to get Kat and go on the run. Although she was tech savvy, she knew there was nowhere to hide if the Mafia really wanted to find them. Kat was young. She didn’t deserve a life of fear, a life where she was constantly looking over her shoulder.